Jean Ohai

Jean Bergen Ohai, our mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, cousin, and friend passed away on November 11, 2020.  She was born December 29, 1937 to Jay Delore Bergen and Margaret Jensen.  She spent her childhood in Ogden, Utah.  She graduated from Ogden High School where she received a National Merit Honor scholarship and went on to receive her undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University and her graduate degree in Linguistics at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.

She married George Sanford Kanahele in 1956 and together they had two children, George and Kauana.  They lived in New York, Indonesia, Japan, and Belgium before finally settling in Hawaii.  In 1974 she married Nephi Ohai and together they had Michael and Maren.  After their divorce in 1987 she returned to Utah, settling in East Millcreek where she raised Michael and Maren as a single mother.

In addition to being a dedicated and loving mother, Jean worked as a technical writer at Novell, and loved gardening and cooking exotic meals. She was a voracious reader, eschewing popular literature for titles like “The Russian Revolution” and “Extinct Languages”.  She was an accomplished musician and played the organ for years in her various wards. Throughout her entire life, she held an unwavering faith in God and testimony of the Gospel of Christ.  She could be described as a scriptorian and expert in Church history. She also was devoted to family history and spent countless hours doing research which resulted in an abundance of temple work.

She is survived by her four children, George Kanahele (Denise), Kauana Jackson (Kip), Michael Ohai (Carrie), and Maren Kinlacheeny (Jeff); siblings, Judy Barnes, Bruce Bergen, Brent Bergen, Jim Bergen, Kristi Haight, and Kathy Lovett; 13 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild.

The family would like to express their gratitude to the staff at Pacifica Senior Living and Michelle Lewis at Envision Health Care for the care they showed Jean during her final illness and for the members of the East Millcreek 9th ward for their love and support.  They also would like to thank Margaret Edwards for being such a wonderful friend to Jean.

A graveside service will be held on Thursday, November 19th at 12:00 at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park, 3401 Highland Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah 84106.